Hello Ecomodder's,
Great site, figured I would join up instead of having just a good time lurking.
Have been enjoying driving locally gas free for 4 years now. My EV ride is a 97 Solectria Force. 26,700 miles on the odometer. A factory conversion of a 97 Geo metro 4 door.
Great bottom end 0-45 but like a old VW 45 hp bug in 4th out on the freeway. Electrically governed to 70 mph.
Energy is stored in 13 gel type Pba batteries. Wired in series for a nominal 156V. Solectria did a fine job of turning the glider into a great electric vehicle.
I'm the 3rd owner and the car had 13,100 miles on it when I became it's new care-giver. I took out the original battery pack at 23,300 miles and 10 years from the factory installation date. The battery pack could still go 25-30 miles but a few of them didn't like high amp loads. Replacements cost under $2000.
The equivalent mpg is to high to mention. And besides electricity for charging the car is free. Really it is.
I don't drive an EV to save the world I just happen to find it to be extremely cheap to operate. Cheap can be green also. It is a California rust free vehicle so I expect it should last a long time at this rate. But it is a Orphan car and even the Metro stuff can be hard to find. Actually 2 of the 3 problems I've had with the vehicle have been Geo stuff.
Hypermiling a ICE vehicle is also a fantastic endeavor. I own a Scangauge II for use on rental car trips. (The Force is not a long ranger.) I like to exceed all EPA mileage standards, highway ones being fairly easy. BTW fill up a rental right away if your going to challenge yourself because "full" usually isn't. The new stuff is pretty neat and fun to rent. But still way cheaper to rent than to own. Did I use the cheap word again, guess I should have said way greener than owning. Renting when needed shares the resource, fewer cars means less manufacturing waste.
Started driving in '62 or 63 and flying in 67 so I've used a few gallons of liquid power along the way. Have had some good times in vehicles that need scatter shields and in aircraft that measure fuel flow in the thousands of pounds per hour per engine. My favorite words from days gone by, "afterburners now."
Looking to do some minor aero mods to the Force to maybe get a tiny bit more miles per AH. Coroplast sits in the garage ready for some added belly work.Solectria had covered in front I'll see if continuing on back adds some efficiency. It likely won't do much but I don't have to work around any hot pipes either. So it should be about as flat as a belly pan can be. With the coroplast being more costly than the electricity I sure hope it does a little something for the effort. Tried to find a coroplast sign to recycle but couldn't find one big enough. Should be good sign pick'ens after the election if your in need of some coro.
Removed the spare tire the first day I had it home. Canned air and a cell phone will do, as I won't be that far from home.
Have never found my self out of "juice". The car is very predictable and as a EV driver you plan most trips.
With the new batteries I can drive 60 miles but find most of my needs are well under 25. This keeps the battery state of charge (SOC) well above 50% most of the time so the use of Pba batteries doesn't hamper my use.
Best Regards,
EVDRVR